Athabasca Reaches Accord With Aboriginals Advancing Dover

Athabasca Oil Corp. (ATH) said it has
reached an agreement with an Alberta aboriginal group that will
pave the way for the Dover oil-sands project, a venture that’s
majority owned by PetroChina Co.

The Fort McKay First Nation has agreed to drop its
objections to the project, the Calgary-based company said in a
statement today. No details on the agreement were provided.

Athabasca rose 11 percent to C$8.74 at the close in
Toronto, the most since the shares began trading in April 2010.
The stock has gained 35 percent this year.

The Alberta Energy Regulator on Aug. 6 approved the Dover
proposal, noting in its 40-page decision that the project won’t
have a direct impact on the Moose Lake area, a traditional
territory of the Fort McKay First Nation. The aboriginal group
had requested a 20-kilometer (12-mile) buffer around the project
to protect their traditional hunting territory and argued that
the cumulative effects of oil-sands development put their
environment at risk.

The Dover project contains reserves of 4.1 billion barrels
at a 50 percent recovery rate, the regulator said in August.
Athabasca expects production at the site to reach 250,000
barrels a day at full capacity. PetroChina acquired 60 percent
of the project in 2010.

The agreement involves commitments by the company to
protect the local environment, said Alvaro Pinto, director of
sustainability for the Fort McKay First Nation in an interview.
The aboriginal group didn’t succeed in winning a buffer around
the project, he said.

“The community will be more present in the area to monitor
and check that the agreement is being met,” said Pinto.

Andre De Leebeeck, a spokesman for Athabasca, declined to
provide more details on the agreement. The project still needs
approval from the provincial government, which would trigger a
C$1.32 billion ($1.19 billion) put option to sell it to the
majority owner, he said.